Authors: Marika Thwin, Madysun Green & Janeth Sierra-Rivera
The drama in Washington D.C. continues this week as former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is wrapping up. Between the dates of Jan. 30 and Feb 6, 2021, there were almost 3 million total mentions of the impeachment across all types of media – with posts reaching a total of 745 million users and holding 18.8 billion impressions on Twitter alone.
The charts below demonstrate overall volume trends in which Jan. 30, Feb. 2, and Feb. 4 held the highest post volume throughout the week.
Some of the developments that occurred on those days included:
- News reports revealed that five of Trump’s impeachment lawyers had left his legal team due to disputes regarding legal strategy.
- House impeachment lawyers accused Trump of inciting violence against Congress: Although Trump’s legal team states that the Senate cannot convict him because he is no longer in office, the Senate argues against this because Trump was charged while he was still in office. Democrats may subpoena Trump to testify in the trial if he refuses the testimony request.
- Senators gave speeches on their impeachment votes.
Whether users tweeted about their support for former President Trump or their disapproval of him and his actions, the messages all contained negative connotations which resulted in a 90% negative sentiment across social media. The top posts from Twitter were divided between impeachment supporters and non-supporters, but similar language was used between the two groups:
Why would we want to impeach and convict Donald Trump – a president who is now out of office? Because it must be made clear that no president, now or in the future, can lead an insurrection against the government he or she is sworn to protect.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 6, 2021
Only 11 Republicans voted against the woman who called for the execution of the Speaker of the House.
Meanwhile, 61 Republicans vote against the woman who voted to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection.
Let that sink in.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 5, 2021
How do you incite a riot that was already planned?
How do you incite a riot when the president said “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard?”
This #impeachment is ridiculous.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 2, 2021
Over the course of the week, there was also a lot of conversation around US Representative Liz Cheney, who was censored by the Wyoming Republican Party because she voted to impeach former President Trump. Several of the overall top keywords surrounding the impeachment involved “Wyoming and Cheney,” more so than any other topic. Even actor George Takei chimed in with something to say about it:
The Wyoming GOP just officially censured Lynn Cheney for her vote to impeach. The Arizona GOP censured Cindy McCain and others.
But sure. Leftist cancel culture.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) February 6, 2021
Other Media Outlets:
While Twitter analysis displayed a greater amount of online engagement surrounding Trump’s impeachment, Facebook accumulated 45.k mentions, of which more users were against the impeachment than those who were in favor of it. On a somewhat different but relevant note, CBS News released an article about Carbon Dioxide emissions in the US which had nothing to do with the impeachment but garnered comments reading: “Impeach Biden, Harris, and Pelosi” demonstrating the overall breadth of the current political environment.
The conversation continued onto Reddit as posts averaged to 783 posts per day, with a total of 6.27k total mentions. While the platform is known for its subreddits and the discussion of everything under the sun, but the topic of President Trump and his impeachment topped all of the “political” subreddit groups. Many of these discussions focused on the votes of the impeachment trial, with a particular emphasis on the results of who voted for what outcome and the surprise from the Republican Members of Congress that voted against the president. Although overall the emotional aspects from the posts were anger centralized, the overall sentiment held at 81% neutral, while only 2% was positive.
Instagram had over 790k total posts using the hashtag “#impeachtrump”. However, it is important to note that many of these posts were memes, focused on the discussion of the votes from House-members, or among the few accounts that delivered critical content like quotes from the House Impeachment Managers.
Full Analysis
Purpose: To analyze the thoughts and sentiments surrounding the impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump on social media.
Analysis Time Frame: January 30 – February 6, 2021
Keyword group:
- Donald Trump
- “Wyoming and Cheney”
Popular Hashtags:
- #impeachtrump
Trends in Conversation:
- Conversations surrounding the manner in which the Members of Congress voted.
- Active engagement from both those who are in favor of the impeachment and those who oppose it.
Sentiment:
- Donald Trump and his impeachment trial have encountered differing sentiments across various social media platforms however, there is an overall 90% negative sentiment across social media
- Twitter – was divided between impeachment supporters and non-supporters.
- Facebook – users were more vocal about their opposition to the impeachment than those who were in favor of it.
- Reddit – the overall sentiment held at 81% neutral, while only 2% was positive.
